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A transnational peace activist for roughly half a century, Nigel Young has spent his life on the margins of political and state boundaries. Below Young reveals what he has learned to be a fine line between espionage and conflict research (i.e. “the perfect cover”).

By Nigel Young

By the time I first moved into peace research in 1963, I had become aware of the State’s interests (or often several States’ interests) in the anti-war movement: McCarthyist informers, Cold War agent provocateurs, intelligence sniffers, as well as plain opportunists, con-men, the confused, and mavericks – it was not only phone taps and men in macs. And then there were some odd characters in the peace movement itself, like Bertrand Russell’s secretary, R. Schoenman, and on the margins Pergamon Press’ Robert Maxwell, or the MP John Stonehouse in the U.K. The Quakerly dictum, “think the best of everyone you meet”, was certainly the one that many of us aspired to, but how many “strikes” before someone was out of the reach of trust and credibility? During the anti-draft movement in the U.S.A., the “plants” were obvious, their jeans and denim didn’t fit, they were awkward and not very with it, and their sunglasses were not cool. But they sowed mutual suspicion and that was enough. Many groups broke up. And during and after McCarthyism, in the 1960s, I directly experienced the entry of agents, often ex-military, into peace studies and action roles – not so much to gain information as much as to disrupt, divide and dismantle.

Those who work on the margins of states and boundaries – spies and peaceniks – have a lot in common. They sift the same information. They share not only their extra-national orientations, but their ambivalent loyalties and often the frontiers, or “walls” – around which they work in. I remember one occasion when a somewhat eccentric combat military officer, turned critic, turned journalist, turned researcher, (and temporary colleague) asked me, “But why would a spy be in peace research?” My response was immediate: “Because it is the perfect cover!” It’s one better than journalism, or refugee work, better than the U.N. and far better than the diplomatic corps. The genuine conflict researcher has legitimate roles in zones of conflict and violence and talks to both – or all sides – the IRA, the Brits, the Loyalist paras, the police, always “listening” carefully. The difference is between the overt (if still confidential) and the covert, the dissembler.

Of course, peace researchers are not free of their own agendas; even for more universal values. I made myself very unpopular in one North American University seminar by saying that I would have been sorely tempted to help Klaus Fuchs (the Atom Spy) escape if I was sure it could have helped nuclear disarmament. And I knew people who succumbed to similar temptations; or to covertly support one of the big battalions in a moment of crisis. Inevitably, transnational activism and study brought us into contact with senior military or ex-military, or intelligence – some as colleagues. Some turned for help to us; I still recall the unnameable high ranking North Vietnamese intelligence officer defecting (with my and others’ help) to Scandinavia, via embassies in Europe. It was he who had sought assistance. Very real, human, not an imagined ghost; he was desperate to tell his story, at length; though how much of it he told I’m not sure; but it had the passionate ring of authenticity and a plethora of details.

Most of us are caught up, one way or another

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NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society Michael Buckley

Jackson Jones is an all-around good guy that everyone loves, until the day he gets braces. He loses his spot on the football team, loses his friends, and loses his ability to get away with anything. In loneliness, he starts spying on everyone at school. That's how he finds the secret lair under the building, that's how his braces get upgraded to a fighting mechanism. That's how he ends up joining NERDS-- a children's branch of the CIA.

Of course, the rest of the NERDS aren't so welcoming. They never liked Jackson-- he has always been a bully that tormented them mercilessly and he's really, really bad at this spy stuff. They (understandably) have no desire to help him become a better spy or to make him part of the team.

But, the mad scientist Dr. Jigsaw is currently trying to rearrange the continents in order to reunite Pangea. In order to obtain his goals, he's kidnapping various scientists from around the world to use their ideas, technology, and skills. Unless the NERDS can stop him first.

Lots of fun, with cool gadgets and action, and a good dose of silly fun. It's sure to be a hit with middle grade readers, especially boys. I didn't like it as much as I lurve Buckley's Sister Grimm series, but it is a lot of fun.

I most loved the character of the Hyena-- the tween femme fatale who wants to be a hired assassin, but can only find goon work. She can kick a lot of ass in heels, but keeps breaking them in the process, so needs to rethink her footwear. I liked her career conundrums, and really, just the thought process of a bad-guy for hire. She's my favorite character by far and I would love to read a series just about her.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carre

There's been a shake-up at the Circus (which is what British intelligence calls itself.) Control is out (and dead). Percy's in charge and swept out a lot of Control's men, including George Smiley.

Smiley's wife has left him for good and he's wondering what to do with his life when he gets sucked back in. There's a mole at the Circus, and they want Smiley to find him, but no one at Circus can know what he's up to.

Smiley doesn't look like much of spy, but he's one of the best, and he's about to blow the Circus wide open.

You know what I loved most about this? That it wasn't all international danger and action. While it did look back at past operations by different characters, all the present action mostly consisted of Smiley sitting in a hotel room, reading stolen files, trying to piece together a story.

And you may not think that makes a very thrilling novel, but it does. The reader gets bits of files, bits of Smiley's memories as they're triggered, and tries to put it together, to get the story of Control's downfall and Percy's ascent, and to figure out who's been passing information to the Soviets...

The tension builds slowly, and different mysteries pile on top of each other, we try to tease out the answers, to see if they're related or not. There's a reason this is considered a masterpiece of the genre!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

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Hours Spent Reading: 27
Books Read: 8
Pages Read: 2330
Money Raised: $715.54
What I'm listening to: Life Begins At The Hop

Please remember that I'm reading to raise money for Room to Read, which builds libraries, stocks them with books, and trains people to become their librarians.

Alibi Junior High Greg Logsted

Ok, so here's a problem with working at a library and read-a-thons. I'm always thinking "Great! This can be when I read all the books that are due back and I haven't gotten to yet, plus all those books that I bought and haven't read yet because my book buying eyes are bigger than my reading eyes..." But then I start checking out all these extra books for the read-a-thon. Because I didn't have enough already?

Then, when you spend a day at the library in the middle of a read-a-thon?

I think it shows admirable restraint that I only walked away with 1 extra book today.

Somehow, I had never heard of this one before, when it caught my eye on the book cart this afternoon.

Cody has grown up with his dad, helping him with CIA stuff, his entire life in deep undercover. He changes identities every week. He speaks 5 languages and knows many, may ways to kill you. After a cafe bombing in Santiago, Cody's facing his biggest challenge-- junior high.

It sounds like it should be a comedic romp, but it's not. Cody has some serious PTSD issues from the bombing. He's completely unprepared for junior high-- how to dress and talk like a normal kid, to not be smarter than your teachers, all the unwritten codes he's never had to deal with before-- it's not easy to adjust. Plus, his dad is still out there, somewhere, fighting the bad guys.

To make matters worse, it looks like the guys who were after his dad in Santiago are now after Cody. Luckily, his neighbor is an Army Ranger who's just returned from Iraq missing an arm. The guys bond (without talking about it) over their mental recovery and physical training.

Not to say that there aren't funny bits. It is darkly comedic. And good. I'm surprised it didn't get more buzz last summer when it came out. It should have.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

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Nathan and his pals are back. The good news is he’s still “alive”, the bad news is he’s still a zombie. But that may be about to change!

While Nathan and Mookie are walking to school one day, something odd happens. It seems that a bush is following the boys! When Nathan goes to check it out, a guy stumbles out of the bush and denies following the boys. They chalk it up to the weirdness of their town and head on to school. The weirdness doesn’t stop once they hit school, however, as Nathan spies a squirrel filming him with a nut-cam! Something is definitely up!

After discussing everything with Abigail and Mookie, it’s decided that someone is following Nathan and seems to be very interested in his new found zombie self. Nathan can’t imagine why anyone would want to follow him, but Abigail (who is seldom wrong) is convinced. What are they going to do about it?

The kids don't have much time to work on a plan, because ever since Nathan helped his school out with the track and field meet, the gym coach is on the muscle, and his new idea is to form the best middle school wrestling team ever! Mr. Lomux is looking to toughen them up, and Nathan is desperate to find a way to convince the other guys not to really wrestle him. It would be awkward if he lost a finger or an arm in gym class!

While Nathan is trying to avoid getting clobbered, the followers approach him, give him a bagel phone, tell him they know what he is and that they will be in touch. Before long, the phone rings and Nathan is sent on a wild goose chase to a meeting place where he is blown away by what they want him to do. And by the fact that the scientists who they are working with, can fix him so that he no longer falls apart. Seems too good to be true, right?

David Lubar keeps this series trucking along with fun characters, fast moving action, and the gross out moments that zombification naturally brings! Nathan struggles with his moral code in this installment and realizes that his actions have a larger effect. The gym scenes are hilarious, and all I can say is that I don’t want to be anywhere near the socks of Mookie and his pals!

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Although I will fail mightily at the 1% challenge, I am trying hard to cram in as many books at the end here as possible. Luckily, they tend to double count with other challenges.

Casino Royale Ian Fleming

The very first book to introduce Bond, James Bond, to the world. A communist agent has been doing bad things with Russia's money and needs to get it back. He's going to risk it all on high stakes baccarat. London is sending the coolest agent they have to Royale-les-Eaux to win all of Le Chiffre's money. Broke, Le Chiffre will be no use to the communists, who will send SMERSH, their assassin league, after him.

Eh. It started off exciting enough with a random bomb blast before the big card game, but Fleming loses a lot of plot momentum and tension with long explanations about how high-stakes games work, and how to play baccarat and the strategy involved.

If your big central plot is a card game, you need to be able to maintain tension (Eileen Chang's Lust, Caution is about a double agent waiting for her mark/lover at a coffee shop and is the tensest thing I've ever read) and Fleming just doesn't do it.

Also, the very, very end was sooooooo anti-climactic.

Given the time period, Bond's character, and the Britishness of it, I was expecting the subtle racist stereotyping and was expecting a Mad Men level of sexism (which is pretty high) but Bond makes Don Draper look like Gloria Steinem. Seriously.

I did enjoy reading it, but I was really disappointed by the ending. This is one case where I think the movie will probably be better, because the tension and action will probably be handled better (I haven't seen it yet, but now I want to!)

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

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Kidd, Ronald. 2009. The Year of the Bomb. Simon & Schuster. 202 pages.

There were Martians in the backyard.

This is why I love the Cybils. I love discovering books like this one. The cover on this one didn't thrill me. It didn't say read me, read me. But. This book was oh-so-good. And I hope that you will give it a chance. You may just be surprised at how much you enjoy it.

What is it about? It's about a group of friends (boys) growing up in the fifties. (The year--to be exact--is 1955). (The boys are Arnie, Paul, Crank, and Oz.) What these boys have in common is science fiction and horror. Books. Movies. Magazines. Doesn't matter. If there are monsters or aliens lurking, they're there. They're hooked. Though they may be scared silly, they are loving every minute of it.

One day they learn that a movie--a horror movie--is going to be filmed in their hometown. (They live in Sierra Madre, California.) The film is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. From the minute they hear the news, they are excited, thrilled. Maybe just maybe they can watch the movie being filmed. Maybe they can see a few stars. This is what they've been waiting for. Finally. Something to be excited about.

This book is about the filming of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But it is also about McCarthyism and the Cold War. Coming-of-age during this time in history. When the threat of war, of bombs, was very real.

I'd definitely recommend this one. If you like historical fiction. If you like coming of age stories. If you like science. If you like science fiction and/or horror. If you're a movie-lover. This one just felt so right to me. I love how everything comes together in this one. How the author, Ronald Kidd, weaved real facts into this fiction novel. There is a great author's note explaining what is real and what is not.

(This review copy was provided by the publisher.)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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For today's enjoyment, I bring you two books about teen spies. Because, what's better than teen spies? Nothing.

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover Ally Carter

The third book in the Gallagher Girls series, this one sees Macey's senator father running for vice-president. Cammie goes to visit Macey on the campaign trail and foils a kidnapping attempt. When school starts, the girls must balance their spy-training coursework with a busy campaign schedule, and the fact that someone is after them and no one will tell them anything.

This is a little different from the previous books, because in them, the girls were never in any danger. One of my favorite things about the Gallagher Girls series is that it never puts minors in harm's way, which is a conceit used in most other books of this genre. This one, however, features tons to real danger and real-life situations that the girls have to use their spy-training to get out of. Now, the adults don't want them in danger, and do everything they can to keep the kids out of it, BUT, when someone is actively trying to kidnap you, you're bound to run into trouble. Lots of action, suspense, cool spy stuff, and boys that mess with your mind. What more could you want?

Fans of the series need to check it out, but you need to read the earlier ones first, I think.

Now, I'm super-intrigued to see what the ARC read like. I can't find the post, but I swear to all that I'm sure Liz B blogged about the fact she was warned there were significant differences between the ARC and the final book.

Spy High Mission One AJ Butcher

Bond Team is not getting along. They have one more chance to beat the virtual simulation test, or they're getting their memories wiped and getting kicked out of Spy High. No one wants that, but no one's willing to put their differences and egos aside to start working as team, which is the only way they'll pass. Then, the head of their school has another idea that sends them straight into the face of danger, but might be the only way to get them to work together.

Ok, this is one of those where the plot is absolutely redonkulous (but mutants are always cool, so it's ok!) the characters are stock and flat, but I still rather enjoyed it. This is a fun, fast read. Some of the characters annoyed me (Hi Ben! You suck!) but the plot was fast paced and so ludicrous it was awesome. Was it good? No. Am I glad I read it? Totally.

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Hours Read: 8
Books Read: 3.5
Pages Read: 879

Stormbreaker (An Alex Rider Novel) Anthony Horowitz

After his uncle, his only living relative, is killed under suspicious circumstances, Alex Rider discovers that he was really a spy for M-16, and killed shortly before stopping something big. M-16 decides to press Alex into service to finish the job. Alex doesn't want to, but is blackmailed into it.

He is sent undercover to a computer facility building the new Stormbreaker, a revolutionary new laptop that is going to be given to every schoolchild in England. Alex knows something's not right about the scene. He also knows that Herod Sayle, the owner and mastermind, and his band of cronies (straight from any spy movie, although Mr. Grin might be a little more Joker-esque) are probably onto him as well.

I do really enjoy the teen-spy-novel genre. I tend to enjoy the ones staring girls more (I'm a sucker for a romantic subplot) but this one was very, very good and if you like teen spies, check it out. (Although, you probably have. This is like, the first/biggest/main teen spy series, and I don't know why I haven't read it before now.)

Here's a really striking quotation-- something that I think a lot of teen spy heroes feel (all in trouble with the law, though many tricked into breaking the law so there's something to hold over them) and with no families, etc (exception being Gallagher Girls and The Squad):

In the end, the big difference between him and James Bond wasn't a question of age. It was a question of loyalty. In the old days, spies had done what they'd done because they loved their country, because they believed in what they were doing. But he'd never been given a chance. Nowadays, spies weren't employed. They were used.

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Oh, Gilda Joyce. How I love you and your wonky ways.

It's summertime and Gilda has moved to Washington, D.C. for a summer job at the National Spy Museum. How perfect is that? She is sharing an apartment with Caitlin Merrill ( a recent college graduate) who is more than a bit surprised when she takes in Gilda's appearance. She is decked out in her 60s spy chic outfit complete with flipped hair and Jackie O pink suit.

Once Gilda gets to the spy museum, she is in heaven. After getting settled in Gilda gets to go on a field trip with the museum's historian to acquire some new spy paraphernalia from an Russian former spy. On meeting Boris, Gilda immediately notices some of his left over spy habits...like gazing over her shoulder to see who is coming down the street and she notices that her psychic abilities kick in when she is around him.

Soon after the museum acquires Boris' lipstick gun and red glass brooch, Gilda starts having dreams. Dreams that she is certain are a message. And these dreams are peppered with D.C. locations, and well as a blond woman and Abraham Lincoln! Gilda wonders what is going on. Funny things also start happening in the museum...things that cannot be explained or blamed on faulty technology. Is Boris really and ex-spy? Is the Spy Museum haunted? Will Gilda be able to solve any of these mysteries in her new role as spy camp counselor?

Jennifer Allison keeps this series going strong with the familiar (yet growing) character of Gilda in a new location. She is on her own, but Wendy is present in Gilda's letters to her, and Gilda's mom comes in with phone calls. The Washington contingent is fun, and the appearance of a certain author is well placed. D.C. itself becomes a character, as readers see it through Gilda's eyes. Descriptions are rich and detailed, yet don't go on too long. A personal favourite is the description of the crazy hotel where spies and celebrities go when they don't want to be bothered! Though Gilda is 14, she is a young 14. I feel like she gets a bad rep in some circles as unbelievable, but trust me...working in a MS shows that there is certainly a range when it comes to maturity levels and young teens.

For fans of the series, of mysteries and of quirky characters! On shelves May 09.

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Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. 2008. The Squad: Killer Spirit. Random House. 324 pages.

Once upon a time, I thought that the cheerleaders at my high school were no more capable of intelligent thought or true athleticism than the average dachshund. Suffice to say that unless the wiener dogs of the world have been holing out on me--big time--I was very, very wrong.

This book is the sequel to The Squad: Perfect Cover. Both books are great fun in a quirky, sarcastic meets Alias kinda way. Both books star a teen girl, Toby, who unexpectedly finds herself chosen to be a cheerleader. But not just any cheerleader, no, the super-fun, undercover-spy, working-for-the-government, top-secret, glitter-wearing kind of cheerleader. Transitioning from proud-loner to popular-cheerleader hasn't been easy for Toby. The first book is about the recruitment and Toby's first few weeks. The second book opens a few weeks after the close of the first novel. It's fall and homecoming is approaching. But a big case has come up as well. The book balances both the danger and treachery of spies working on a tricky case and the typical high school melodrama centering on homecoming, football, pep rallies, and homecoming courts. (Who will be Queen? Who will be princess? Who will go with whom to the dance?) You can read an excerpt from the book here.

What I love most about this one? Besides the general snarkiness of Toby? The friction-filled, chemistry-packed always-on-the-verge-of-developing relationship between Jack and Toby (or "Ev" as he calls her short for "Everyone knows Toby.") This is the scene right after Toby learns that she has been nominated for Homecoming Queen...along with all the other members of the cheerleading squad.

"Fancy meeting you here." Jack spoke into the back of my head, but I knew it was him.
Darn Noah. Darn the PTA president. Darn Hayley Hoffman.
"Aren't you going to say something, Ev?"
I muttered an expletive under my breath, and Jack smiled.
"That's my girl."
"I'm not your girl," I said sharply.
He stepped closer, until the rest of the crowd felt miles away by comparison. "You could be."
There were times when I almost couldn't restrain myself around him, times when I wanted to kiss him again so badly that my lips literally hurt. This wasn't one of them. He was being suave and smooth, and I wasn't falling for it.
"Yeah," I said, "and I could also tattoo an anorexic pterodactyl on my navel, but I'm not planning to do that either."
"Anorexic pterodactyl." He repeated my words, and the self-assured smirk on his face was replaced with repressed amusement. "Sounds more like a butt tattoo to me."
It was comments like that one that did me in. He could wax poetic about me being his girl or how beautiful I was or whatever from now until graduation, and it wouldn't inspire anything in me other than the desire to spell out for him just how much of a tool I thought he was. But the moment he started snarking or quipping or admiring my snarky quippiness, I was a goner.
"I'll make you a deal, Ev. You go to homecoming with me, and I'll save you from having to go to the God Squad after-party."
He knew how to sweet-talk a girl. He really knew how to sweet-talk a girl....

But will she say yes? Did she say yes? Can she survive long enough to get to the dance? Read and see!


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
If you're reading this post on another site, or another feed, the content has been stolen.

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Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. 2008. The Squad: Perfect Cover.

If you'd told me at the beginning of sophomore year that I was going to end up a government operative, I would have thought you were crazy, but if you'd told me I was destined to become a cheerleader, I would have had you committed, no questions asked. At that point in time, there were three things in life that I knew for certain: 1)I was a girl who'd never met a site she couldn't hack or a code she couldn't break, 2) I had a roundhouse that could put a grown man in the hospital, and 3) I would without question chop off my own hands before I'd come within five feet of a pom-pom.

I loved this one. I just loved it. We clicked right from the start. The premise? Practically perfect, an unlikely girl, Toby Klein, is invited to try out for the cheerleading squad. Her invitation? It contains a code, and that's not the only suspicious thing going on. Yet before she knows quite how and why it's happening...Toby Klein is...in fact...a cheerleader. True, she's not your typical cheerleader. None of the girls on the squad are...which is why they make perfect undercover agents for the government!

I don't want to reveal too much. But I do want you to know that this one is pure fun, and thoroughly satisfying. I know I can't guarantee that YOU will love it as much as I did. Reading is too subjective to make promises like that. But I do encourage you to pick this one up and give it a try. It's a paperback original--and it's worth every penny of the $7.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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You know how I said I was doing a lot of spy book reading lately? Yeah. This is a really long post.

First up,

Down to the Wire Shannon Greenland

Y'all know I loved the first in this series, Model Spy. The Specialists are back, but this time, it's Wirenut's case.

But GiGi is still narrating. The action starts with how Wirenut was conned into joining the Specialists, and then jumps to Gigi's narration of the action picking up where the last book left off. It's a little weird.

Basically, the guy who hacked Wirenut's family to death is hiding some top-secret biological weapon in the handle of the sword that was used to hack his family to death. Wirenut's the only one who can break into the museums to get the clues to lead to the sword, GiGi's the only one who can decode the clues...

Murder. Mayhem, some girls, some kissing, and a whole lot of David-related angst.

All the techno babble is utter crap, and the countries are made up but... I still get totally sucked into these books and can't wait for the rest of the series. Excellent titles for reading while lying in the hammock on a hot day.

The Squad: Perfect Cover Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Toby Klein is the ultimate slacker, so why is she being invited to try out for Varsity Cheerleading?! Something weird is going on, especially since Toby's cheer invites are being written in code.

Fast forward. Toby's on the squad, only cheerleading is a cover for a group of elite teen CIA operatives. Cheerleaders are peppy and dumb, right? Wrong, but it's the perfect cover for girls like Toby with ninja-like martial arts skills and hacker skills to beat GiGi's from The Specialists. Sadly, being on the squad means getting a Level 6 makeover (which means that the cheerleading twins have come in and completely replaced Toby's closet.) Sure, her new trendy belt buckle doubles as a camera, but her new highlights are just that, highlights. And Toby's dorky brother? In loooooooooooooooooove with cheerleaders and thinks he is quite the ladies man. (He's not.)

Toby is now one of those girls. Yes, catching terrorists is cool, but she does still have to learn how to do pyramids and something called a herkie...

Here's why I love this: The technology is vaguely plausible (in that James Bond way). Also, Toby does NOT appreciate going from invisible girl to overnight in-crowd. She doesn't handle it well. Toby's voice is perfect sarcasm. I love her.

Example (Hayley is pissed off that she didn't make the squad and Toby did. She's been spreading gossip and the rest of the squad keeps telling Toby to ignore it.):

"Well, I heard that she's a complete lezbo who's sleeping with one of the other girls on the squad. Can you say casting couch?"

I had to hand it to Hayley Hoffman. She was creative and she must have had an excellent command of acoustics, because she pitched her voice just loud enough so that I could hear her, but not loud enough that Tara, Bubbles, or April could. I thought about just sucking it up and taking my place at the center table, but I couldn't quite bring myself to turn the other cheek, because the fact that Hayley was using that particular term as an insult meant that her words weren't just insulting me. With that in mind, I waled toward the JV table, ready to draw blood, metaphorically speaking. Probably.

That awesome, awesome voice continues in:

The Squad: Killer Spirit Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Check it out:

Less than an hour ago, all I'd wanted was detention. Now, I was nominated for homecoming court and going to the big dance with the hottest guy in the school. Somewhere out there, God was laughing at me. I was sure of it.

And that sets up the plot. There are a ton of baddies in town, and the Squad isn't the only crew tracking them. The Big Guys keep trying to take away the case and Brooke's trying to keep control. Plus, Toby's on homecoming court and Noah's trying to do anything possible to make her queen. Someone's trying to kill Toby. If the mission succeeds and Toby survives, Brooke will take her out if she steals the crown... what's a cheerleader to do?

What I liked about this is the stakes were a little higher, but we also learned some info on Brooke that rounded her out a bit as a character.

I'm looking forward to future volumes, but can't find if any are forthcoming... :(

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan goes to en elite boarding school. Everyone else thinks it's where the daughters of the country's richest go, but really, it's a boarding school for spies in training.

They only take the best and the brightest and they take classes in foreign language and covert operations. When they grow up, the NSA and CIA are ready to take them.

Cammie Morgan may speak over 14 languages, but none of them is "boy." When she starts falling for a boy from town, it's up to her and her friends to use all their training to find out if he likes her not.

This is fun. I really like that Cammie and Co. don't go on any missions to save the world. Unlike these other books, where kids are thrown into hardcore situations with only a month or two of training, Cammie is getting a complete education and not going on any serious missions until then.

Not that she can't find other uses for her skills...

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy Ally Carter

After what happened last semester, something new is coming to Gallagher Academy. Boys. Boys will be taking classes and training with the girls.

But who are these boys and why are they really here? And who's been leaking Gallagher information to the outside world?

And what could be more mortifying than running into your ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend while you're wearing a comms unit that your entire class and teacher can hear over?!

If you liked the first, you'll like this. More action, more intrigue, even though I guess the ending, I still liked reading it.

James Bond, you're on. Girls are coming to get you.

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Hi everybody.

Well, this is going to be short because I just realized I'm going to be very busy this week. Very busy SPENDING MONEY.

Also, I'm going to be quitting the writing thing as of today. Yeah. It was a pipe dream and kind of a waste of time if you ask me. Really, who wants to read books about short buses, zombies, magic sandboxes, or even a girl with strength-enhancing body armor?

It was a good try, though. Right?

Oh. I guess I should explain: I won the lottery.

Yeah. I know!

As if that wasn't enough, I won it 3 other times this week. And here's the kicker: I never even bought a single stinking ticket. Also, the lotteries are from Ireland, Great Britain and some other European place. What are the odds of that?

It was like getting a truckload of money just for opening my e-mail. Check it:

The Irish Lottery
11 G Lower Dorset Street
Dublin 1, Ireland.
P O Box 1010.

ATTENTION WINNER
This is to inform you that you have beenselected for a cash prize of £1,350,000(Onemillion, three hundred and fifty thousand,pounds sterling) in cash. Which was held on the28th JANUARY,2008 in Ireland.This are yourlucky numbers:06, 17, 24, 26, 36, 44, Bonus37.The selection process was carried outthrough random selection in Ourcomputerized email selection system (ess) froma database of over 250,000 emailAddresses drawn from which you were selectedas one of the lucky winner.

Contact our fiduciary agent for claims with:
Contact Person:mr.kennethsmith,Email:[email protected]
Tel:+44-7031-944-741

Provide him with the information below:
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Marital Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Age:
6.Sex:
7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence:
9.Telephone Number:

Sincerely,Sir.kolyn parkins
Online coordinator for THE IRISH LOTTERYSweepstakes

Anyway. I need to get my affairs in order and get all this information to Kolyn Parkins right away. Hmm...wonder why he didn't bother capitalizing his name? No matter!!!

It's been real, Tappers! See you in the emergency room!

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